Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Given New $51.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) had its price objective hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $51.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 38.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on LQDA. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.44.

Liquidia Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $36.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.45 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.61. Liquidia has a one year low of $11.26 and a one year high of $46.67.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.07. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 209.33% and a negative net margin of 43.53%.The firm had revenue of $92.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.49 million. Liquidia’s revenue was up 3072.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Liquidia will post -1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total transaction of $65,807.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 178,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,449,019.20. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $28,655.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 211,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,795,188.85. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 212,534 shares of company stock worth $7,964,719. 30.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Liquidia by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,547,000 after acquiring an additional 90,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,439,000 after buying an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,527,000 after buying an additional 151,832 shares during the period. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in Liquidia in the third quarter valued at about $38,887,000. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Technologies, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company leverages its proprietary PRINT® (Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates) platform to engineer precisely shaped and sized drug particles, with the goal of improving delivery, efficacy and safety profiles. By controlling particle characteristics at the nanoscale, Liquidia seeks to enhance respiratory and other therapies that depend on targeted delivery.

The company’s lead product candidate, LIQ861, is a dry powder formulation of treprostinil designed for inhalation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).